It would be easy for Toronto Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle to get caught looking ahead.

The 2014 Winter Classic has enough buzz attached to it to keep anyone distracted, but Carlyle says he’s got other things to worry about ahead of the January 1 game as Neal Davidson of The Canadian Press shares.

“We’ll get to it,” Carlyle said Friday of the outdoor game. “There’s been so much gone on in the month of December – the number of games that we’ve played, the number of roster changes, the number of bodies that we’ve had in and out, the turmoil, lack of success. All those things have gone on here and we’ve tried to put that to the side and just try to focus on the positives. There’s been some positives that we’re trying to build on with our group and hopefully we can carry that forward.”

Throw all that in and their 4-3 shootout win over the Buffalo Sabres last night as well as their game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday and you’ve got plenty of reasons for Carlyle to have his head everywhere else other than thinking about playing outdoors.

Of course, with the HBO cameras following them around everywhere he can’t really escape the inevitability of the Winter Classic.